Your Privacy and Data Protection

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new EU regulation which came into effect on 25th May 2018. GDPR provides you with greater control over your personal data and places greater accountability on organisations who process it.

Who we are

Acorn Life DAC, part of Acorn Life Group, is a 100% Irish owned life assurance company providing insurance, savings, investment and pension products to the Irish public. To enable us to provide these products & services we process your personal data, such as financial and medical records. We need to process most of this personal data under the terms of a contract we have with you (your policy) or to meet legal obligations.

The personal data we process

We process data for the following reasons:

Consultations and marketing e.g. contact information.

Regulatory checks e.g. proof of identity and address to comply with Anti-Money Laundering law and screening customers against Financial Sanctions and Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) lists.

Safety and security reasons - if you visit our offices, we may record CCTV footage.

Legal basis for this processing

We process your data where:

You have agreed and provided consent (you may withdraw your consent at any time) e.g. when we communicate with you for marketing purposes.

It is necessary for a service or contract you have entered into e.g. when we provide you with a product recommendation/quote and you buy an insurance policy.

There are legal or regulatory reasons e.g. where regulators require us to maintain records about our dealings with you or carry out checks for anti-money laundering reasons.

We have a legitimate interest to do so (and to which you may object). This means a business reason to use your data which takes into account your rights e.g. recording of phone calls for customer service reasons.

Under the Irish Data Protection Act 2018 health data can be processed if it is necessary for insurance, life assurance or pension related reasons.

How we collect this data

Directly from you e.g. phone conversations or meetings with our staff and tied insurance intermediaries, letters, emails or data entered via a form on our website.

Via tied insurance intermediaries (financial advisors) who meet with you to assess your financial needs, provide you with quotes and product recommendations, and to assist you when you purchase a policy.

From others e.g. doctors/healthcare professionals as part of the underwriting or claims process and third parties who carry out searches on our behalf of publicly available information for Financial Sanctions/PEP screening purposes.

We record and monitor calls, for customer service and to meet regulatory requirements. We will let you know if a call is being recorded at the start of the call, so you can decide to continue or not.

What happens if you don’t provide your personal data

If you choose not to provide us with your personal data, it may mean we are not able to:

Provide requested products or services to you

Continue to provide existing products or services

We will tell you when we ask for information which is not a contractual requirement or is not needed to comply with our legal obligations.

How long we keep it for

We only keep your information for as long as there is a business reason, or where regulations say we must. Typically, this is for 6 years after our relationship with you ends. But, it will vary depending on the type of data we hold, and the type of products/services provided to you.

Who we share it with

We share your information with the following types of recipients:

Acorn Life Group companies e.g. for marketing purposes.

Doctors and healthcare professionals e.g. where needed for underwriting and claims.

Fraud prevention investigators - who assist us in some specific cases in identifying, investigating and preventing fraud.

Tied insurance intermediaries (financial advisors) who meet with you to provide advice and product recommendations.

Your authorised representatives e.g. where you have asked us to share your data with them.

These data transfers are mainly within Ireland but may go to other countries within the European Economic Area (EEA). Sometimes these recipients might transfer data outside of the EEA. If they do, we will take steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place e.g. contracts to protect your privacy.

Marketing

We contact you for marketing purposes where you have consented. If you also consent to it, we will also share your contact details within Acorn Group. You may opt out of this marketing at any time by contacting dataprotection@acornlife.ie

Your rights

At any time you may:

Ask us for a copy of your personal data

Correct and update mistakes/incomplete personal data

Raise a complaint with the Data Protection Commissioner

In certain circumstances, you may:

Delete your personal data

Restrict use or object to us processing your data e.g. for marketing purposes

Take your personal data to another provider

Exercise a right not to be subject to solely automated decisions

Where you have consented to the use of your data, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.

Contacting us

If you have any further questions or you wish to exercise your rights, contact our Data Protection Officer using one of the following:

Where a request relates to one of your rights we ask that you provide the following:

Name, address and any further contact details such as email or phone number that you would like us to use.

A description of your request e.g.what types of personal data you would like a copy of.

Policy number (where applicable). This will make it easier for us to identify you and your personal data.

Where relevant we may also ask for further proof of identify and address.

What happens if you have a data protection complaint

We would like it if you contacted us first to see if we can resolve the issue. But, if you have an issue with how we are processing your personal data, you have the right to raise this with the Data Protection Commission at any time (Tel: 057 8684800 or https://www.dataprotection.ie).

Cookies

We do not use cookies to collect or store personal information.

We do not use website analytics technologies. Any cookies that are written by the site are necessary for the operation of the services on this site.

Website of Acorn Life DAC

Privacy practices in relation to this website:

We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other external websites which we may link to from time to time. Any external links to other websites will be clearly identifiable as such.

You do not have to provide us with any personal data to use our website.

Where you choose to give us your personal data through online feedback or enquiry forms, we will treat your personal data as outlined in this Privacy Statement. This will mean:

Processing this data to service your request/instruction. This can include passing this data on to other employees/intermediaries within Acorn Life Group.

Maintaining a record of these communications.

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Access to this website and use of the information on it is subject to the terms and conditions outlined in our legal notice. By proceeding further you will be deemed to have understood and agreed to be bound by these terms and conditions. If this is not acceptable by you, please exit this site now. Acorn Life DAC is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Acorn Life DAC is registered in Ireland, number 128945. Registered Office is St Augustine Street, Galway.